Evelyn Gillan Research Impact Prize

We are delighted to announce the winners of the inaugural Evelyn Gillan Research Impact Prize for families and relationships research that has influenced the lives of children, families, or households. The awards were made in memory of our late colleague Evelyn Gillan (1959-2015). The awards are supported by the Scottish Government.

Evelyn completed a PhD CASE studentship at CRFR looking at how family voluntary organisations influence the policy process. She was well known for her policy influencing work before and after this, particularly the hard hitting Zero Tolerance campaign about domestic abuse, and her work to improve Scotland’s relationship with alcohol.

Evelyn was a passionate advocate that policy-making should be based on the best available evidence, and used evidence highly effectively in her campaigning work. For example, she picked up on the CRFR and Childline partnership research, and used children’s voices in the campaign for effective alcohol reduction policies in Scotland.

The prizes were awarded on 15 June 2016 by Mark McDonald, Minister for Childcare and Early Years, on behalf of the Scottish Government. The prize giving ceremony was part of the final session of our international conference – Unequal Families and Relationships. We were honoured that members of Evelyn’s family were able to join us for the ceremony.